Last night kicked off a week of television premiers with the second season of Heroes. My wife and I watched (in real time; that’s an important distinction in the TiVo age). We went to bed shortly after, since we’re now old and perpetually exhausted. Our conversation went as follows:

Me: “So, were you impressed by Heroes tonight?”
Mindy: “No.”
Me: “Me neither.”

There was short span of silence before our conversation continued:

Me: “Have we ever been impressed by Heroes?”
Mindy: “No, not really.”

The magic of television is how it captivates you with nothing.

This is a big week for our house: most of our favorite television shows kick off their new seasons. You know, I’d never really watched any shows religiously until I got married. I wonder if there’s something to that. Anyways, here’s our schedule for the week:

• Heroes – Monday, 9PM, NBC; we were latecomers to the series — if nothing else, it’s in HD
• House – Tuesday, 9PM, FOX; if you’re not into weekly impossible medical mysteries that are always solvable within an hour, then at least enjoy Hugh Laurie as Dr. House
• Bones – Tuesday, 10PM, FOX; here’s to hoping that this season will rise above last, and actually be entertaining again
• Private Practice – Wednesday, 9PM, ABC; a spin-off with a character from Grey’s Anatomy, I don’t have high expectations — in fact, I’ve predicted this show falling off our schedule within a few weeks
• Life – Wednesday, 10PM, CBS; total shot in the dark, but it has Damian Lewis who was exceptional as Major Winters in Band of Brothers, so I’m giving it a shot
• Grey’s Anatomy – Thursday, 9PM, ABC; perhaps Mindy’s favorite show of all time
• The Office – Thursday, 9PM, NBC; excellent comedy, and I finished catching up on the 3rd season just in time

We walked away with only a single conflict: Grey’s Anatomy and The Office are on at the same time on Thursday nights. I guess this is why God invented the PVR.

Are there any new or old shows you guys are looking forward to? And if you say Lost, take your own advice.

I just got off the phone with my brother, who’s now at school out in Colorado, where he doesn’t have cable in his room. Which is funny, since I just got done installing and configuring Orb, a free Windows application that will stream live TV off a tuner card. I gave him my login, so I may actually become my brother’s cable provider.

I’m kind of jealous, actually. I’m also wondering if this somehow violates my agreement with Cox. Should it?

By the way, if you haven’t tried Orb, it’s really cool. It lets you access all the pictures, music, video, and even files (slightly disconcerting) on your machine from anywhere. I can even stream live TV to my phone (and it doesn’t work on the iPhone! TAKE THAT!).